Abstract

Diagnostic thinking relates to the cognitive processes that result in a diagnosis following examination/ assessment of a patient. Researchers, both medical and educational, have investigated these processes of diagnostic thinking (Barrows & Bennett, 1972; Grant & Marsden 1987) and following this Bordage, Grant & Marsden (1990) developed an inventory that could quantitatively measure diagnostic thinking ability in medical doctors.
This study assessed the Bordage, Grant & Marsden diagnostic thinking inventory for its reliability and validity for use with physiotherapists, who follow similar diagnostic pathways to medical doctors (Jette, 1989). Reliability was assessed using the test-retest method and measurement of internal consistency by Cronbach's alpha. The inventory was reviewed by experts in the field of physiotherapy to consider its content validity. Construct validity was judged by looking for differences in the responses of student and qualified physiotherapists who are assumed to differ in their diagnostic ability.
The results showed that the inventory is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring diagnostic ability in physiotherapists working in an outpatient department. Correlation plots indicated a positive relationship between scores on test and retest, this relationship being statistically significant (r = 0.779, p < 0.001). The inventory had internal consistency with an overall alpha value of 0.846. Experts in the field of physiotherapy agreed that the inventory measured diagnostic thinking which ensured content validity of the inventory. Statistical differences were found between the responses of student and qualified physiotherapists with a t value of — 3.79 (p < 0.001) for total scores thus indicating construct validity.
Further work needs to be carried out to assess the reliability and validity of the inventory for physiotherapists in other specialist areas. It is foreseen that this inventory may be used to measure diagnostic thinking in physiotherapists and to measure outcomes of educational programmes designed to improve diagnostic thinking.

Item Type:

Article

Date Type:

Publication

Status:

Published

Schools:

Healthcare Sciences

Subjects:

R Medicine > RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology

Publisher:

Informa Healthcare in collaboration with the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE)